The Flywheel

Program for September 7th

Dr. Beth Halbert

"In her work as a child psychologist, Dr. Halbert
has learned how kids think and why they act the way they
do. She knows how to get them to open up about their
fears, emotions, interests, problems and goals. She also
knows parents and how to help them create positive dialogue
with their children and reduce negative tension in the
home." (from Cornerstone
Speakers)

MEETING OF August 31st, 2007

Welcome, Invocation, Thought for the Day

Prez Pam rang the bell and got Red
Badge Rookie Leigh Johnson Esq. to lead
the Pledge of Allegiance (counselor Johnson also tells
a pretty good joke, more on that later). Henry’s
Korner & with proprietor Henry Kelman was
back an raring to go after a small heart attack, a couple
of weeks ago. Hank got off the first good joke
of the day noting he had no idea that those ads on TV
about not using Viagra and nitrates together meant “nitroglycerine”,
at least not until a couple of weeks ago. A hard
working Gary Bell observed the traditional
moment of silence for peace and happiness around the
world.

Guests

Markku Pelanne introduced his son John
Pelanne who has been in Nigeria Africa who
is about to return to participate in a new micro-credit
loan program which has establish the goal of successful
lending to very poor, entrepreneurial women as part
of a program to develop self sustaining employment,
income and the reduction of poverty.

Visiting Rotarians

Gary Bell introduced Monica
Shaw, an associate in the mortgage industry,
of Keller Financial and a member of the Pinole Rotary. Gary
mentioned that Monica is also a member of the NIAD
Board of Directors..

Sunshine Report

Dandy Don Lau (I believe)
covered for the still absent David K. Don reported
that Jim “The Beav” Beaver is “doing
fine and is still kosher”, having had a bovine,
non-swine valve replacement during his heart surgery. The
Beav is still under orders to “do nothing” which
includes driving and opening the refrigerator door. Calls
and cards are much appreciated.

Herb Cole said Mike Winters
Mom, Wilma Winters passed away last week. She
was a life long resident of Richmond and a long time
fixture in the RUSD central office and a community
volunteer including Secretary for the Richmond Museum. An
unattributable comment was heard that, “She was
a great lady”

That’s it for Sunshine and Shadow.

Announcements

Glenn Daggs continues to circulate
the sign-up list for $100 Peres Teacher Support contributions & is
looking for eight more contributors to cover the Peres
teaching staff or so says Glenn’s alter ego Prez
Pam..

Raphael Madrigal said that in spite
of Jim Young always getting his name
wrong (I only got it half wrong) he is still
providing raffle tickets at $100/pack for the District
5160 Fund Raiser. Very soon he will also have
admission tickets to Rotary Fun Day at Six Worlds Marine
Flags in Vallejo, October 6th. The District Fun
Day at that Vallejo amusement park will also includes
morning child care and a Keynote Address by Past Rotary
International President Ramendara Saboo. More information on
the Foundation Fun Day.

Hank Covell invited the members
to participate in the September 20th Dinner
and a Play event at the Hotel Mac and the across the
street at the Masquers Theatre for “The Shadow
Box”. Tickets are available from Hank.

EJ Shalaby, reminded the members
about the Home
Front Festival, September 28th, 29th & 30th
(Friday through Sunday ), and to keep that weekend
free because Rotary is a major participant (check out
the Sailing
Through History events). EJ passed out sign
up forms for participation in the Festival, especially
working with Dock Master Rich Brandes for
dock duty boarding passengers on the Potomac,
the Alma, the Delphinus and the Red & White
Fleet ferry boats all (except the Potomac)
giving harbor tours. Richmond Rotary will also
be selling prepackaged snacks out of the Harbor Master
Building by the dock loading operation. The signup
list will be circulating until it is full. Proceeds
from the Rotary effort will go to RI’s Polio
Plus program.

Jim Young reminded the members they
are welcome to practice for the USO dance practice
Thursday nights, 7:30 – 9:00 PM at Arlington
Community Church, 52 Arlington Ave. in Kensington. It
was nice to see Nick and Nel Despota and Monique
Le Conge and honorary Rotarian John “Z.” Ziesenhenne at
the last session.

Prez Pam asked the members to mark
their calendars for Gallo Wine Night at the Hotel Mac
Oct. 2nd. The dinner and wine tasting of Gallo’s
good stuff will be in honor of the legendary 79¢ bottle
of Tokay that has raised over $8,500 at Holiday Auctions
over the years. Rumor has it that the wines being
tasted are all better than the Gallo Tokay. Menus
and sign-up are circulating at the meeting.

Recognitions

Prez Pam started recognitions by recognizing PDG
Werner Schwarz who she said, “Has something
to say about something between his legs.” After
the cries of disbelief and swoons caused by the mere
thought died down, Werner produced a large Happy Birthday
Balloon from under the table and asked Jon
Lawlis if he had just celebrated his birthday? Jon
had, #55, and he celebrated it taking his daughter
to the University of Redlands in the Inland Empire,
where it was 114° and he had a
celebratory dinner that night at an In & Out Burger
someplace between Bakersfield and Tracy. Jon
had $100 for the Carl Rehfuss Scholarship Fund.

Dandy Don Lau the asked Erle
Brown about his love life. Erle said
it has been 48 great years with the love of his life, Phyllis,
as of August 29th and he has $100 each for the Paul
Harris and Carl Rehfuss Funds. One can only
hope that kind of enthusiasm is rewarded by a winning
season for Cal.

Dandy Don called on Gary Bell who celebrated
his seventh anniversary on the 25th. After some
confusion over their wives, both of whom are named Shelley (or
Shelly) Gary acknowledged a “fun” celebration
in Las Vegas and a $100 left over the club’s general
fund.

Dandy Don also acknowledged Jim “The Beav” Beaver’s anniversary
with Jane on the 18th. The Beav’s “laid
back” life style precluded him from making his
$100 contribution to the club, but “the check’s
in the mail”.

Happy and Sad Dollars

Jim Young had Happy $$ that none
of the club’s Raphael’s have ganged up
on him for is creative but inaccurate renditions of
their family names. Thank you Raphael Madrigal
and Raphael Cartagena for you tolerance and understanding.

Jon Lawlis had Happy $$ for dropping
his daughter off at U. of Redlands.

Dan Sanders had Happy $$ for his
son starting the firs week of his MBA program and U.
of Sand Francisco.

Werner Schwarz had Happy $$ on behalf
of himself and David K. for Henry
Kelman’s participation in today’s
meeting.

Tom Waller had Happy $$ for Prez
Pam who let him talk about the collegiate
level RotoAct Program at Cal and various other colleges
in District # 5160. Tom will be working to
get the club closer to these high energy young Rotarians-in-training
including their participation at the Home Front Festival.

Raffle Results

Markku Pelanne got the nod to go for
the $69 raffle pot, depleted last week by Judy
Morgan, but Markku must be luck at love because
he got the white ball and a free lunch.

THE PROGRAM

Joke Day III (and 1/2)

Jim Young launched into Joke Day with, “How
many Rotarians does it take to change a light bulb?

Most of the club voted to delegate the job to somebody
else, one Rotarian who believes in Service Above Self,
to get the job done. Fortunately that’s a joke about
other clubs and not Richmond Rotary where volunteerism
and enthusiasm are contagious. That said, Joke Day was
a big success. Like my Pap always used to say, “If you
want the good stuff you have to be there”, so this summary
will not retell any of the great jokes from our stalwarts
like Josh, Genser, Werner Schwarz or David Brown. We
will note that there were great first time appearances
from tellers like Leigh Johnson, Tom Waller and Bill
Koziol, even though Tom’s series of joke’s may have set
back Rotary’s efforts to reach out persons of the female
persuasion 25 years. BUT IT WAS A JOKE!

Joke Day is regularly scheduled anytime the combination
of holiday weekends and lack of speakers make it impossible
to get a program involving participation beyond the club’s
lunch hungry members.

Editor’s Note:Rotary
speaker engagements are open to anyone with something
informative, interesting, unusual or funny to say to
the club with the caveat that they must keep crass
commercialism (“Give me money” or “Buy my stuff”) to
a minimum. Pass along names and contact information
to Jim Young and know that if he hasn’t scheduled your
proposed speaker it is probably because he: 1)Lost
the contact information; 2)Forgot outright and needs
to be reminded; 3)Couldn’t get through because they
are actually hard to contact & etc. Your Program Chair
does ask that the candidate speakers all be” good enough” to
have your name associated with them because it will
be.

Your Rotating Editor, Jim Young

Upcoming Programs

September 14
Orlando Ramos, Principal of Richmond High School, talks
about the campus today, his goals, and the process
of developing a campus culture.

September 21
The Potomac Foundation brings a sneak preview of the
history and restoration of FDR’s “Floating White
House”, which will appear at the Home
Front Festival.

Have a suggestion for a speaker? Please pass along
the name and contact information to Jim Young. See note at
the bottom of this page.

Important Events

September 20
Masquers Dinner Theatre, Play: Shadow Box

October 2
How did a 79 cent bottle of Muscatel manage to raise
over $6,000 by being passed around among Richmond
Rotarians? Help celebrate this 31 year old marvel
at the Gallo Wine Dinner, Hotel Mac.